No timeline for exchange fixes – CDC cancels furloughs for salmonella outbreak – Top IRS official to testify on ACA rollout

By Paige Winfield Cunningham

10/09/13 10:02 AM EDT

ONCE YOU GET INTO OBAMACARE, YOU’RE STUCK — It’s not clear how customers can delete their Healthcare.gov account if they choose — at least the way the website is set up right now. During a test run, we used the customer support chat to request that an account be removed and were told that our request must be referred to an “advanced” customer service system. Whatever that is. And you can’t get around setting up an account — it’s the only way to browse health plan options. We asked some privacy and tech experts to weigh in on the “delete gap.” Some had concerns, while others said it’s not a big deal. The Pro story: http://politico.pro/1bWuGaD

Happy Wednesday, PULSE readers. Your writer has thought of something good about the shutdown: It’s never been easier to select our lyrics. Will there ever be a more fitting time for “American Idiot,” “Reboot the Mission” or “If I Had a Million Dollars?” We think not.

Story Continued Below

“Welcome to a new kind of PULSE, all across the alien nation.”

NO TIMELINE FOR EXCHANGE FIXES — Several days of “hardware and software fixes” have put a turnaround in sight for the insurance exchanges, White House communications advisor David Simas told us yesterday. But Simas didn’t offer any timeline for when users can expect a glitch-free experience on Healthcare.gov. Nor did he offer much insight into the specific technical problems plaguing the system or the nature of the work being done to fix them. The Pro story: http://politico.pro/1goNClm

--After our story posted, HHS spokeswoman Joanne Peters offered a few more details. She said the administration is continuing to add more server capacity, moving the over-stressed part of the system from virtual machine technology to dedicated hardware and making other software changes aimed at increasing efficiency.

THE GUY WHO REALLY KNOWS ABOUT ALL THIS has been kept pretty tightly under wraps by the administration. Todd Park, Obama’s top technology advisor, has granted post-launch interviews only to USA Today and the New York Times. Our message to the White House: Pro Health would like to be next.

NO ONE ASKED OBAMA ABOUT OBAMACARE — President Obama addressed the White House press corps for one solid hour yesterday without once being asked about the glitches plaguing his signature health law — a surprising turn of events that frustrated some on the right. “Explain to me how in a dozen questions the second biggest story of the week, the Healthcare.gov debacle, doesn’t even come up,” tweeted Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck. The POLITICO story: http://politi.co/GJOseV

THERE’S NOT MUCH TO TALK ABOUT — In case you didn’t already feel hopeless enough about Washington, POLITICO’S David Nather reports that there’s just not much common ground between the two parties when it comes to health policy. Obama has said he’ll work on the health care law once this crisis is over, but Republicans want bigger changes than he’ll likely agree to. And Republicans are unlikely to agree to the additional revenues the president insists on in return for some entitlement reforms. The POLITICO story: http://politi.co/19yY3RW

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CONSERVATIVES WORRY DEBT CEILING WILL OVERSHADOW OBAMACARE? — Raising the debt ceiling could overshadow the fight to gut Obamacare — and that has the most conservative House Republicans worried. The Oct. 17 deadline to raise the ceiling is approaching, and with it the focus could shift to a broader range of policies like tax and entitlement reform. “If they put the CR and the debt ceiling together, there is a concern that they’ll drop [Obamacare],” Rep. Tim Huelskamp told POLITICO. The story: http://politico.pro/1akHvJP

ABOUT THAT SHUTDOWN — It’s still going on, last time we checked. House Republicans aren’t at all sure how they’ll get out of this mess. After forcing leadership to pick an Obamacare fight it didn’t want to pick, their path to avoid a government shutdown is totally uncertain. And Speaker Boehner appeared to dig in yesterday, saying that Republicans would be surrendering to Democrats if they agree to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling without any concessions from Democrats. More here: http://politi.co/1b9eamS

CDC DE-FURLOUGHING WORKERS FOR SALMONELLA OUTBREAK — About 30 furloughed employees will return to work to help handle the multi-state Salmonella Heidelberg outbreak linked to raw chicken products, the CDC told us yesterday. The agency has been operating with 32 percent of its staff during the shutdown, but officials said they’re especially concerned about the outbreak because it involves seven different strains and 76 people have been hospitalized so far.

HAPPENING TODAY

--Sarah Hall Ingram, the top IRS official implementing the health law, will testify before the House Oversight Committee at 9:30 a.m. http://1.usa.gov/1gi9fnn

NUMBER OF MILWAUKEE ENROLLEES: ZERO — Those who have actually enrolled in Obamacare are still a pretty small group — and don’t include anyone from Milwaukee, the city’s health department said yesterday. Officials said that hundreds of people have visited the department to sign up for coverage but weren’t able to, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. http://bit.ly/GLaUVo

NIH RAISING MONEY OFF SHUTDOWN — The upside of manufactured government crises: You can raise money off them, especially if you didn’t create them in the first place. The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health blasted out a fundraising plea yesterday, reminding people that the shutdown has halted research at NIH labs in Maryland, Montana and North Carolina. “Now, at this crucial time, you can partner with the FNIH to provide the support that is so vital to our health and future,” the email says.

HEALTH EMPLOYMENT RETURNS TO ALL-TIME HIGH — The economy added 33,000 health care jobs in August — well above the currently monthly average, according to the Altarum Institute’s latest health care indicators. Most of the increase was in ambulatory jobs, while hospital jobs remained flat. The growth represented a rebound from July, when only 2,500 health care jobs were added, and brings health care employment back to its all-time high last seen in April. The briefs: http://bit.ly/14zcbas

ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS STRESS DOCTORS OUT — Doctors say that using electronic medical records make them more dissatisfied at work — mostly because they see it as an obstacle to delivering quality care for their patients, according to a study sponsored by the American Medical Association. The doctors surveyed said they’re worried that current EMR technology interferes with face-to-face discussions with patients, requires too much clerical work and standardizes medical records too much, thus reducing their accuracy. The study: http://bit.ly/18KBRRZ

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is moving forward on a plan to phase out health coverage for city retirees, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. http://bit.ly/1fhpp1e

New York’s glitchy exchange has received 40,000 applications, but state officials won’t say how many have actually enrolled in a health plan, the New York Daily News reports. http://nydn.us/1fgHNau

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Authors:

About The Author

Paige Winfield Cunningham is a health care reporter for POLITICO Pro and co-author of the morning newsletter Pulse. Previously she reported for The Washington Times’ political team, covering elections, Congress and health policy, including the 2012 Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act.

Cunningham grew up in St. Louis and attended college in the Chicago area, graduating from Wheaton College in 2006. She spent most of her time at the Wheaton Record, where she served as features editor, but made sure she still had time for playing violin in the conservatory orchestra.

Cunningham covered county government for the Naperville Sun right out of college, but when the paper filed for bankruptcy, she decided it was time to move on. She moved to the D.C. area in 2009 to report on Virginia government and currently lives in that state with her husband.